By Elliott West
“They were wonderful times and I look back with great joy”.
Tony Hakins
Introduction
The clack of snooker balls and laughter may now just be a distant memory but in its time Colchester Billiards and Snooker Club in Essex was a hive of snooker activity. Tony Hakins should know because he ran the club for 25 years from 1975 until 2000. Along with his business partner, his father-in-law Geoff Sleebush. This business brainwave occurred thanks to Geoff who also ran the nearby Lexden Star Pub which had a snooker table. Highly popular amongst the local community, Sleebush suggested to Tony that they should tap into this potential snooker goldmine and open a snooker club together. A brainwave that turned out to be a stroke of business genius. This snooker club became a magnet for snooker players with the likes of Steve Davis, Alex Higgins, Graham Miles John Spencer, Ray Reardon and Jimmy White all making an appearance here.
A Bastillon of the Community
The Colchester Billiards and Snooker Club was the only snooker club in this Essex town for seven years and when other rival clubs tried to set up here, they quickly folded due to its sheer popularity. This was all down to the loyalty of the members and customers. A club that initially had six snooker tables but then added a further three upstairs. Such was the demand to pick up a snooker cue and play that in the early days it was near on impossible to get a game on a table. When John Spencer played here in January 1976, the club was “packed to capacity” and would go on to set up a match in 1975 in the Embassy Suite between Alex Higgins and Graham Miles. A match organised by Tony’s daughter Gemma with much sought-after tickets going for £1.50 and £1.25. Alex Higgins even stayed in the George Hotel on the high street. An event that was attended by 400 people and one that was won by Graham Miles 6-3. A match where Alex didn’t cause any trouble and just displayed his sheer genius in the table despite going on to lose the game.The player who didn’t play here at the time was Dennis Taylor. Booked by the club to take part in an exhibition, he has to cancel at the last minute due to heightened security risks caused by IRA bombings at the time.
Afterthoughts
This was a club that once added a ‘touch of glamour to a Snooker Stars competition in the 1970s by using the Gazette Girls at a tournament. A sign of the times and not looked as favourably now. Yet this snooker club boomed on the back of a snooker revolution, successful and well-supported by all those that went there. This is in stark comparison to snooker clubs of today that constantly have to adapt and evolve to find a way of staying afloat and bringing money into their tills. This club had its finger on the pulse of consumer demand and both Tony Hakins and Geoff Sleebush should be praised for not only making a success of a risky venture but also being able to to bring so many of the best snooker players here. Tony Hakins is now 86 and Geoff Sleebush sadly passed away in 1997.
